Process of manufacture of cyanides and their derivatives from the alkali-earth-metalcyanamides



Patented oot. 6, 1925. l

rum comm m DANIEL mm, Tammi-Rance, assrenons 'ro rumours DE PBODUITS GHIIIQUES Ian-mums ET nnuvnnousn, or name, nor-1mm,"

" raoonss or MANUFACTURE or ,crmmnsmannm zonnrurrvss mu mi:

' amnr-nanrn-mn. orimamna;

- Io Drawinfi.

I Haut-Rhin, France, have invented new'a'nd Application ma as, 1924. sci-n1 Re. ,eaakis.

water in the mintureof the saidsubstaiiees will m fact produce-secondary reactions adj l companying the main reaction, resulting in cons derable losses, of nitrogen, in the foim useful Improvements in Processes of Manu-] factur of Cyanides and Their Derivatives] from the Alkali-Earth-Metal Cyanamides,

' which isfully set" forth in'tlie following 0 specification. Y

This invention relates to a 6f manufacture of the cyanides an their de- 'rivatives from alkali earth metal cyanamides." 16

more than twenty years past" that the cyanides can be obtained by heating to a high temperature a mixture of calcium cyanamide and carbon, or of calcium cyanamide alone, 2 or further, a m xture ofcalcium eyanami'de.v

and an .alkali .metal or alkali earth metal of ammonia or of] nitrogen. gas;

-Nog melt1ngoccursffwhen the" mass is heated, but the. nia'ss 'slightly adheres together,- andtheprodiict obtained upon 'eoolmg is very:friable'iandgporouaso that no- 4 preliminary 'crushingfis necessary forthe- Itis a matter of cominon knowledge ior flux with or without carbon. ,This reaction.

takes place at temperatures near 900 C. and upwards.

the addition of small uantities of carbide to the said mixtures will further the.reaction, this being probably. due tothe fact that the carbide, by its presence duringthe fusion .5 of the mass, diminishes the very prejudicial .formation' of foamings (H. P.-Eastman, Canadian Patent 188,259 of January 14, 1919; W. S. Landis U..S. Patent 1,359,257 ofNOvember 16,1920; and Chem. Met. Eng. 35 vol. 22 pages 265-8 (1920); H. Freeman U. S. P. 1,277,900 of'Se tember 3, 1918).

.We' have found that i calcium oyanamide is treated with a mixture of alkali metal carbonates and alkali earth metal carbide 0 in well-defined proportions, cyanides will be formed, this taking place with nearly the theoretical yield, and at a-much lower temperature than in the known processes, or in certain cases as low as 500 C. 45

ner, erfectly dry materials must be used, but this offers no practical difiioulties. The presence of even the smallest'quantity of On the other hand, it is ascertained that extraction of pure cyanide, and this offers a greatadvantage, by-reason of the toxic 00 naturefof the product- -.The reaction takes; place very rapidly .Wl'bll' ai considerable exothermic action, so thatflarge, quantities of c anide can be produced with. a continuous ratus of relatively small s1ze..

:Ihe carbide employedenters into reaction entirely, and it has been observed that..-.i n order to obtain results which are close a the theoretical values, carbide must be used in quantities equal to or below what are 1 indicated by. the equations CaCN,+2CaC,-!-Na,CO, -4

relatively low temperature, an

To obtainthis result in a complete manemployed will both contain a considerable amount of carbon; It is admitted that a small amount ofthis" carbon reacts directly with-the calciumxcyanamide-iin iteof the plains why one may] employ somewhat smaller quantities of carbide than indicated in the preceding equations without reducing the output oficyanide. When the amount of carbide is reduced below a certain limit,

the output of cyanidefor a given tcmperature is considerably diminished; in this event the yield is not much increased by a rise of temperature of 200 or less.

The action of the carbide is therefore of a specific and essential nature-in our said ypperated appa: 5.

. process. vThe carbide .itself takes part in the reaction, its part being by no means secondary, and it disappears (as such) dur- -i the said reaction.

' he reaction takes place withou t the addition of a flux. The alkali metal carbonates take part in said reaction; their carbonic acid isreduced to carbon and nothing remains in addition to the cyanides pro duced except the' alkali metal and alkali earth metal oxides and .large quantities of carbon. The reaction takes place without disengagement of gas. The preparation of the pure cyanides from the mass resulting from the reaction is facilitated from the fact that the alkali metal carbonates disappear during theprocess.

It is in fact dueto the use of the alkali metal carbonates that the alkali earth metal carbide enters into reaction in the abovementioned conditions; it is observed that when these arereplaced by the corresponding chlorides, while maintaining the other conditions of the process as before," the carhide will remainsubstantially intact, and the output of cyanide is inappre'ciable. f

The carbon is formed during the process in the'proportions indicated-by-the preceding equations, and it affords a product which is remarkable for its decoloringprop'erties.

It has been further observed that .in the; presence of iron, or of oxides or other com ground, intimately mixed and heated to 550 C. in the manner above indicated. The mass is then allowed to cool without special precautions. The resulting, product which is of a very friable nature will contain 21.8% of cyanide, estimated as NaCN.

"tain time.

a carbonate of a-n alkali metal,

- The massthus obtained can be used for the production of'pure cfignides and deriva-, tives of cyanides by the insoluble residue is washed with hydro-- own meansf The chloric acid, and there will remain 8,200

kilogrammes of carbon when calcined).

(affording 20%.ash

Another method of carrying the said'process into effect consists in the use as raw in'a terial mixed with the alkali metal oompou'nds,of cyana-mide' containing an insuflicientamountiof nitrogen, i. e. having an excess of calcium carbid which is not converted into cyanamide, in a suitable proportion for the desired end. This product can be obtained during the preparation of cyanamide by arresting the nitrification at a cerlVhat we claim is 1. A process of manufacture of cyanides of the alkali metals which consistsin mixing calcium cyanamide, calcium carblde and a; carbonate of analkali metal, in the proportions given by the; equations:

and in' heating the mixture in such manner that thquantitative yield of cyanide according to the equations will be mately attained. V f

2. A" process of manufacture of cyanides of the alkali metals which consists in mix ing calcium cyanamide, calcium carbide and portions given by the equations:

and in heating the resulting pulvei'ulent and homogeneous mixture to some 500 C. whereby' the yield 'of cyanide according to the equations will be obtained.

In testimony whereof we have signed this specification.

PAUL COMMENT. DANIEL HATT.

approxiin the pro- 

